Boddy Amy M
Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Arizona Cancer and Evolution Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Eur J Epidemiol. 2023 Dec;38(12):1259-1264. doi: 10.1007/s10654-022-00936-8. Epub 2022 Nov 17.
Sir Richard Peto is well known for proposing puzzling paradoxes in cancer biology-some more well-known than others. In a 1984 piece, Peto proposed that after decades of molecular biology in cancer research, we are still ignorant of the biology underpinning cancer. Cancer is a product of somatic mutations. How do these mutations arise and what are the mechanisms? As an epidemiologist, Peto asked if we really need to understand mechanisms in order to prevent cancer? Four decades after Peto's proposed ignorance in cancer research, we can simply ask, are we still ignorant? Did the great pursuit to uncover mechanisms of cancer eclipse our understanding of causes and preventions? Or can we get closer to treating and preventing cancer by understanding the underlying mechanisms that make us most vulnerable to this disease?
理查德·佩托爵士以在癌症生物学领域提出令人费解的悖论而闻名——有些悖论比其他的更有名。在1984年的一篇文章中，佩托提出，经过数十年癌症研究中的分子生物学探索，我们对癌症背后的生物学原理仍然一无所知。癌症是体细胞突变的产物。这些突变是如何产生的，其机制是什么？作为一名流行病学家，佩托问道，为了预防癌症，我们真的需要了解这些机制吗？在佩托提出癌症研究存在无知问题的四十年后，我们可以简单地问一句，我们现在仍然无知吗？对揭示癌症机制的巨大追求是否掩盖了我们对病因和预防方法的理解？或者，通过了解使我们最易患这种疾病的潜在机制，我们能否更接近癌症的治疗和预防？
